So What Are YOU Playing?

[Hyan]

Tactics Ogre PSP, especially considering I played the PS1 version just a while ago and didn't finish it the remake feels Godly. So many annoyances have been removed, so much cool new shit it's unbelievable. I love the new character sprites and font in particular, not too generic animestyle aside from few characters yet not shitty western art either. The fights have been easy (chariot is OP) but since I thought the units lose one life once they're incapacitated, not dead, and I've tried to avoid losing their hearts at all costs, some fights have been quite tricky as I haven't allowed a single unit to become incapacitated before chapter 3 >____>.

I also thought the alignment affects the class capabilities much like in the PS1 version so I messed around with L/N/C but it seems that was meaningless as well. The crafting is awesome and useful, although a bit tedious at times. I also had trouble recruiting monsters for my beast tamer at first. I'm liking the 12 unit max rule (still can only use 10 at time though..) as I can make use of more classes at once. The perfectionist in me is still weeping because some of my available classes are still level one though.

Oh yeah, and I don't think there were any special skills and traits to unlock in the PS1 version. The more I think about it the better the game is (throwing rocks to level up- FFFUUU). They also toned down the fucking annoying counterattack mechanics and I think the level difference factor too (I remember enemy berserker leaders tearing me a new one in PS1 version) but you can't 'defend' anymore which is alright, makes the fights much more manageable overall.

Loving the soundtrack too, Ps1 music was decent at best but the tracks have gotten much more epic this time. Man I can't wait for Duodecim and the 3rd birthday, not to mention type-0. PSP is definitely Top Tier this year and going out with a bang.

[Ayn]

I knew about the new version of Tales of Phantasia..but man, while Dhaos's voice actor does a good job, I liked his original VA better (though the guy's dead now, sadly).

I put down MX for a bit to play Spectral Force 3 some more. Did anyone else here get into the Neverland series of games? Spectral Souls, Blazing Souls, and all the other iterations never released here?

[chiyio]

Finished up Just Cause 2. not really the type of game I normally play but it was fun to run around blowing shit up. It's a shame the gameworld, while huge, is so shallow. Wish you could enter buildings, etc. Also played through plants vrs zombies on my DS, and then played hours and hours of two player against my niece. it's WAY more fun playing against another person, heh

[Yuri-G]

been playing a bit of...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YWgyAP0kbx...igma+Title.png

awesome game, but I forgot how difficult it gets if you don't grind. getting my ass handed to me at Grecliff.

also playing Kirby, both Amazing Mirror and Squeak Squad. sometimes all you want is a platformer that's easy as shit and fun to play, and Kirby always fits the bill.

[Oravis]

Playing Hard Corps: Uprising and loving every second of it. Arcade is brutal as to be expected but Rising mode does give the less hardcore contra players the chance to experience the whole game through upgrades which is awesome.

[Charismatic]

been playing a bit of...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YWgyAP0kbx...igma+Title.png

awesome game, but I forgot how difficult it gets if you don't grind. getting my ass handed to me at Grecliff.

also playing Kirby, both Amazing Mirror and Squeak Squad. sometimes all you want is a platformer that's easy as shit and fun to play, and Kirby always fits the bill.

Difficult isn't exactly the word I would use but... getting to a boss and finding yourself only doing 1 damage isn't fun in the slightest.

[samalis]

Nah, they did until recently (well, actually the other PSP one was still 'better' than the PS1 version but not by much unlike this one). Tales of Phantasia X (on PSP, no translation avail though) is certainly the best version.




Faster battles
No 'spell freeze' (aka you don't have to watch each spell animation individually)
New dodge mechanic
Certain artes link together better
Slightly tweaked enemy AI
Reworked shortcut system (gives each character 1 shortcut rather than just 2 shortcut slots)
More voiced scenes
other misc changes


...oh, and a new character (but she goes in and out of the party throughout the game)

Any idea if a group is working on translating it? That shit looks amazing.

[Charismatic]

There was one being worked on but it's mainly for the other game that it was packaged with... doesn't look like they even got to the actual script's translation, just the menu stuff.

http://tales.namco.com/forums/viewto...er=asc&start=0

[Kaisha]

Been playing some Red Faction Guerilla and Dante's Inferno lately.

I stopped playing Red Faction after apocalyPS3 fucked over my trophy status for the game where I lost 6 hours' worth of trophy progress since I didn't sync the day prior when I went to play it. Good to play it again a year later after forgetting everything I did, as the level of destruction still impresses me. Not sure if I'll bother 100%'ing it, but I'm definitely going to beat it this time around.


Dante's Inferno I'm enjoying a fair bit also. I'm just loving the overall area designs and fucked up monster creations, I couldn't care much for the story or the animated cutscenes with the horrible artifacts. I mean, it's a bloody BluRay disc, make use of the extra space for Lucifer's sake. Been going the holy route for my first playthrough, although I do enjoy that the game gives you the freedom to level either side up without any consequence to the other. I'm going to be a powerhouse when I max them both out.


I also got NIER, MK vs. DC, and Prey on order, hope to enjoy those also, even though it'll be fucking over my backlog progress for a bit.


[EDIT] Order came in much faster than expected. >.>

Put a couple hours into MKvsDC. Fun game, although it has a couple problems with the gameplay, namely the ability to move in 3d space, which fucks over *a lot* of special attacks. Am diggin the Flash's style of play, swift attacks and combo timings I can deal with, unlike Scorpion who I tried earlier.

NIER I only did the starting bit on. Game looks like something out of the PS2 era. Hope the combat system gets a little more involved later on as the button mashing with the starting weapon isn't my cup of tea.



[EDIT2] Platinum'd Dante. Fucking short game, enjoyed it while it lasted though. Also, Visceral should be ashamed for charging $5 for that Dark Forest DLC, glad it was free for PS3 users, that add-on took me 20min to beat.

[Souj]

This is more of a "should I play this game" question.
I have Sly Cooper Collection and Batman AA out from Gamefly atm. I've already beaten Sly 1 and 2, and just wondering how decent 3 is.
I didn't like 1 all that much. I did like 2 and thought it was fun, however by the end of it it all seemed like the same stuff. Is 3 any better than 2, or am I just going to get more of Sly Cooper 2?
I was wanting to be done with Sly Cooper before starting on Batman, be it because I return Sly prematurely, or beat it all.

[Kaisha]

Sly 3 is essentially Sly 2, but with more character swapping (the cast becomes too big for its own good over the course of the game), and a minigame-based mission almost every third mission, which can get tiring because you can't skip the dialogue sections and hearing the 'controls' every time you begin one of them.

Batman:AA is kickass though, and I'd heartily recommend it over Sly 3.

[Souj]

Definitely skipping Sly 3 then. Sounds like they added more of everything I hated about Sly 2 lol

[TacoTaru]

Just finished up Bulletstorm a couple of days ago; too long of a game and gets way to repetitive. It should end halfway through Act 5 and just jump to Act 7. Haven't done the Echos or Anarchy mode, so I'm not sure if they bring the quality of the gameplay up at all, but the game would have been much better if I had the option to play with a friend the whole time, and it actually feels like that's how the game was originally developed. Playing Enslaved now and not really understanding the way cultish praise this game is getting. For what it is it's decent, but the controls constantly do the wrong thing or target the wrong direction due to the camera angle by and large feeling like it's working against me. Only on Chapter 10 out of 14, so I'm waiting to see how the story resolves itself, although that's pretty shallow at the moment as well too. Relationship between Monkey and Trip are really the only stand out thing about this game so far. <_<

[plue]

Bought Assassin's Creed II, since I heard good things and have been wanting to try it for a while. I gotta say I'm a bit disappointed with the game overall.

[Hiryo]

Lol lot of disappointment on this page. For me, I'm mostly playing MvC and MAG(as usual). Marvel is fun, all I do are missions in which I finally finished off q couple characters. I think it phoenix, viper and zero that I finished mission 10 with.

As far as Mag goes, I have to get 1000 sniper kills, and I NEVER used the sniper rifle in the year and a half that the game has been out. Sounded like a lot at first, but I'm up to 270 in about a week, the first 2 days I probably got 20 kills a day. Once you find good places to sniper at that fits your playstyle, you can get a decent amount of kills per day. There's a fast sniper rifle that people play as a shotgun, but that doesn't work for me. The damage is too slow and imo any gun that shoots faster will kill you. So really, that rifle is more like a glorified pistol. I'd rather use the highest damage, lower fire rate rifle.

[Ayn]

Finished up Another Century's Episode. Game has its annoyances, but solid game overall. I hear the second one is leaps and miles beyond the first. I'll probably do a post on Zealot's blog about it soon.

I'm toying around with Megaten: Devil Survivor on DS, but not sure what my next console outing will be. Probably Super Robot Wars Original Generations, since there aren't enough detailed FAQs around for the Sunrise Eiyuutan games and my Japanese skills aren't what they used to be.

..Man I feel like I'm the king of obscure fucking games lately.

[Kaisha]

Picked up Tomb Raider Trilogy since the price was right, and that for once, I have not played any of the games in these HD-remastered packs so far.

Thoughts about the horrendous case aside, anyone know which order I should play these for chronological sakes? I'm assuming I should go Anniversary -> Legend -> Underworld, but it's been such a long time since I've played a Tomb Raider game, last one being the horrendous Angel of Darkness.
(it came with my sound card >.>)



On the subject of HD-packs, I'm still waiting for Ubisoft to announce whether or not the Spinter Cell pack is a port of the PC releases or the dumbed-down PS2 renditions. Definitely nabbing it if it's the former.

Not going to bother with their Prince of Persia disc which finally got announced for a retail release over here (after having only been offered on PSN prior), already own all three on PC, and it seems they did nothing to the game other than doing 720p resolution. Would have been all over that shit though if they included the original two PoP games, PoP Classic, PoP 3D, PoP 2008, and PoP Forgotten Sands. You know, the whole kitchen-sink affair, bang for your buck. Would have been a real enticing package.

[Tobi]

Mainly playing AT3 atm, but also playing God Eater Burst and White Knight(still...). Got my 2nd avatar to GR13, so just gonna take a break kinda and just focus on AT3/GEB. Sadly I have to put Dissidia on hold, and I'm still hoping to get DW7 next week. There's just too much shit to play now, gonna be hard trying to juggle it all.

[Yuri-G]

- playing Dragon Quest 6, not sure if I'll do it on the SNES emulator or DS. I'm an old-school DQ fan, I like the crappy graphics and horribly low exp/gp rates, not to mention the adorably stiff dialogue. the new ones just don't have that same charm. on the other hand, DS = portable, and DQ6 SNES is only 90% translated, so... hmm.

- anyone pick up Okamiden btw? I've been hearing really good things about it, which surprised me. might pick that up as well if there's a patch for the AP by now.

- finished Zue in Terranigma. not looking forward to the Canyon level, if memory serves that was my least favorite part of the game. hopefully I'm wrong...

- just reached Winters in Earthbound... this game never gets old. someone needs to insert the script into Mother 1 & 2 for GBA so I can play this on the go. there's a version with Mother 1 translated, but apparently the programming for Earthbound is a lot harder to hack.

[Shuichi]

Having a mild case of "short game attention span" lately.

Rift, Dragon Age 2, Marvel vs Capcom 3, Parasite Eve.